Resident or Guest?
Had this thought pop in during a weekend walk: Thoughts: Residents or guests?
It got me thinking in a new direction about thoughts.
An original thought is a guest and a recurring thought is a resident. Simple enough.
But do we take the time to notice the difference while thinking? It seems that we have to stop thinking for a moment and categorize what we just thought. Was that last thought a resident or a guest?
What you will find is that most of your thoughts are residents – ones you’ve become familiar with. You’re kind of married to them; you can finish their thought before they do.
When you take the time to stop and notice what you are thinking, you will notice the repetitiveness of thinking. Just by noticing that you are thinking the same thoughts is observation enough to create a space in your thought stream for a new thought to come in.
One way to put out the welcome mat for guest thoughts is to notice your resident thoughts. It’s as simple as observing the thought. “Oh, I’m having the thought about the tax bill coming due.” You probably had that thought at least a hundred times before you noticed it. It was residing in consciousness without you even acknowledging it.
When you notice and acknowledge the thought, you create a space in your consciousness for a guest thought to pop in – one that’s not wearing out the carpeting by repetitvely walking around the hallways of your mind.
A guest thought gets you thinking in a new direction. The key to getting more guests is to make space for them. You only have a limited amount of space in your consciousness and if it’s all being taken up by residents, there is no room for guests.
The way to make room in your thinking is to stop and notice what you are thinking. This deliberate act of attention pauses the thought machine just long enough to create a space.
Guest thoughts are polite. They won’t force themselves on you; they’ll only come when there’s room for them.
Want more guests? Let the residents know you are observing them carefully.
All the best,
John
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